System of automatic block-signaling for railways.



d G. H. BENJAMIN. SYSTEM 0F AUTOMATIC BLOCK SIGNALING FOR HAILWAYS.

APPLICATION man MAY-14,1911.

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' Figure 1 shows my GEORGE-HILLARD BENJAMIN, 0E NEW YORK, N.

SYSTEM or 'AUToivra'gnIc BLOCK-SIGNALiNe ron RAILWAYS.

appncauoamea May 1, 1911. serial No. 624,280.

To dllabkom'igmay concern.' y

' Beit known .that I, GEORGE HILLARD BEN- JAMIN, a citiien of the sidi,at the city, county, and State of New York, and whose post-oiliceaddress is 66 Broadway, New York city, New York, have invented certainnew and useful Improve- Systems of Automatic Block-Sigments yin n I ofwhich the following naling for Railways, is a specification.

My invention consistsv ina system o f block signaling which may beemployed in connection lwith steam or electric railways.

The object ofvmy invention is primarily to increase the factor of safetyin signalingE by separating the conductors for the propulsion andsignaling currents, thereby doing erators, and the like.

The accompanying diagrams will serve to illustrate my invention, inwhichinvention as applied to an electric railway; Fig. 2 shows myinventionY as applied to a steam railway; Fig. 3 is aA transversesection through one side of a vehicle, showing an inductivel coil on thepropulsion current,

vthe system described,

vehicle and wayside 'inductive ucoils along the trackway. l

I wish it understoodthat the diagrams are merely illustrative of thegeneral principles involved, and are not in any wise intended to sho-wall the various be employed, as owing to be left tothe skill of thosethe art.

In-the drawings,

familiarv with 5 indicates a source of shown as a direct currentgenerator. It may,'however, be an alternating current generator. 6,feeder conductor, which may be an overhead wire or third rail. 7e-8traiic rails, which are co1- lectively connected to one `terminal 'oflthe propulsion generator 5. The track rails are shown as continuous,that is, they are made up ofordinary rail sections connected by bondsasin any steam or electric railway.

9', source of signaling current, which is pref# erably an alternatingcurrent generator. In it is immaterial Whether this frequency of thecurrent produced by the signaling generator be the same or differentfrom that produced by the prepulsion generator Speccation ofLettersPatent.

4 feeders. '13, energy United States, re-

track insulations, re-

features of construc-' 5, as the track and signal circuits are quitedistinct. 11-12, signaling Iatented Nov. 16, 1915.

transformers arranged at b lock 'intervals along the trackway and havingtheir primary coils 111, connected across the feeders 11-12. Arrangedalong the trackway is a channel iron .15 which serves as a conductor,carried by supports 16l (Fig. 3). Located within the cavity of thechannel iro-n are ways1de coils of wire 17 ,V

which may be given any required length or numberof turns. The secondary18 of energy transformer 13, is connected at one terminal 19, to thechannel iron 15, and lat 20, to a conductor 21.

its other terminal One terminal of each of the wayside coils 17 isconnected tothe conductor 21, and the opposite terminal to the channeliron 15. In other words, the coils 17, which for the purpose ofdescription, I term the wayside coils, are connected across theconductors 15 .and 21 in parallel. Located in the conductor 21 andbetween pairs of the wayside coils, are reactances 22 which have fortheir l the current from the sec-n purpose to divide ondary 18 betweenthe wayside coils 17.

The conductor 21 (Fig. 1) is divided into sections corresponding to thelength ofthe block sections A,-B, C.

In F ig. 2, the secondaryy18 is shown as having its terminal 19,connected to the rail 8, which is continuous, and its opposite terminal20 to adjacent channelirons 15 and 15a, the channel iron in this figurebeing divided into sections with the reactances between pairs of channelirons.

In each of the 17 constitute a block section, such as A, B, C. Locatedin each block section is a signal 23, and at each end of the blocksections are signal controlling devices 24, connected through oneterminal 25 to the channel iron 15, and through opposite conductor 21;and in Fig. 2, one terminal to the rail 8, and the other terminal to asection of the channel iron. The magnets are figures, four waysidecoils` terminal 26' to the provided with armatures 27 connected in sepeither end will denergize the adjacent'relay..

and cause the signal to move Ato the danger position.

29 represents a motor vehicle. Mounted pn the motor vehicle is a coil 30which is closed upon itself and arranged so asto be moved in close4relation tothe wayside coils 17 (see Fig. 3). Preferably the arrangementshould be such that the coil 30 will move parallel to the wayside coils17 and with as small an air gap as is possible.

The operation of my improved system will be readily understood from theforegoing description. Normally, the current induced by energy'vtransformer 13, flows through several wayside coils 17 in parallel.l`and the reactance of these coils maintains a. certain difference ofpotential between the channel iron 15 and the conductor 21, in thearrangement of F ig. 1, and in Fig. 2 between the channel sections 15,l5Zt and the rail 8. The signal controlling devices 24C, are shuntedabout the wayside coils 17 at each end of the block, and are energizedby the current due to the difference of poteny tial maintained betweenits terminals by the reactance as above explained. Normally, therefore,the armatures 27 are attracted, and the local signal circuits 28 areclosed,

thereby maintaining the signals in thev clear position.

When a vehicle moves into a block seotion, carrying its coll 80 intoclose inductive relation with the wayside coils 17, successively thereactive influence of the shortcircuited coil 30 has the same effectupon a wayside coil 17, as a closed secondary has upon the primary of atransformer. In other words, the opposite magnetic flux set up in theclosed coil 30, .reacts upon the magnetic field of the wayside coil 17,and nullifies its reactance, thereby cutting down the potential betweenthe terminals of the coil 17 and reducing the currentin the sigy nalcontrolling device 24, below the holding value, so that the localcircuit will be opened and thesig'nal will move to the danger position.When the coil 30 is adjacent one of the intermediate wayside coils 17,nullifying its reactance in the manner described,

the coil becomes practically a short-circuit across the terminals of theenergizing transreactive influence with the succeeding wayside coil 17before it has moved out of inductive relation with the preceding coil,the

- signal will be maintained in the danger" out the intent of theinvention.

position as long as the car is in theblock section.

I do not limit myself in any wise to the size and character of the coilmounted upon nals controlled by said devices. former. Inasmuch as thecoil 30 moves into y to divide the signaling current between the waysidecoils 17, nor to the character of the signal controlling devices 24.Such devices may be ordinary tractive relays, single phase, polyphase,or other forms of motor well known to art.

It will be observed that in Fig. 1 the trackway is entirely distinctfrom the signaling system, and that no signaling current flows throughthe rails. In Fig. 2 on the other hand, one rail is used as a part ofthe signaling circuit. This of course is not at all essential, but ismerely shown for the purpose of illustration, and further, to indicatethat there may be combined with a system such as disclosed, means forindicating a broken rail, for'it lis plain that if the rail 8 shouldbreak, the signal would be car- .ried to the danger position.

yHaving thus described my invention, I claim:

.1., A system of block signaling, compris- ,ing a trackway, amotor-vehicle on said trackway, a coil closed upon itself carried by thevehicle, a source of signaling current, a number of conductorsenergizedfrom the source of signaling current, one of said conductorsdivided into lengths corresponding to a block section, a number ofwayside coils connected in parallel across said conductors and saidcoils arranged along theJ track'way in inductive proximity to the coilcarried by the motor vehicle, ysignal controllingdevices connectedacross two of said conductors and in shunt of said wayside coils, andsignals controlledv by said devices.

2. A system of block signaling, comprising a trackway the rails of whichare continuous, a motor vehicle on said traclzway, a coil closed uponitself carried by the vehicle, a source of signaling current, a seriesof wayside coils energized from parallel connections to said source ofsignaling current, and said coils arranged along the trackway ininductive proximity to the coil carried by the motor vehicle, signalcontrolling devices connected in shunt across the opposite ends of theseries of wayside coils and sig- 3. A system of block signaling,comprising a trackway, a motor vehicle .on said.

trackway, a coil closed upon itself carried by the vehicle, a source ofsignaling current, a series of wayside coils energized from parallelconnections to said source of signaling current and arranged in groupsalong the trackway and in inductive proximity to the coil carried by themotor Ve- 'by the vehicle,

a source of signaling current, transformers having their primaryterminals connected tothe source of signaling current, a series ofWayside coils connected in parallel across the terminals of thesecondary of each transformer,`and each of said -series constituting ablock section and inA `inductive proximity to the vcoil carried 4by themotor vehicle, signal controlling devices connected in shunt across theend coils'o each group and signals controlled; by, said devices,

5. Aystem of block signaling, comprising a trackway, a motor vehicle onsaid trackway, a coil closed upon itself carried by the vehicle, anumber of conductors connected to the source of signaling current, a

series of wayside coils connected in parallell across said conductors,and said coils., arranged along the trackway in inductive proximity tothe coil carried by the motor vehicle, signal controlling devicesconnected in shunt of said coils, and signals controlled by saiddevices.

6. A system of block signaling, comprising a trackWay, a p.motor vehicleon, said trackway, a coil closed upon itself carried by the vehicle, asource of signaling current, a number of conductors, a transformerhaving its primary terminals connected to the -s'ource of signalingcurrent and its secondary terminals to the tivo conductors at abouttheir centers, a series of Wayside coils connected in parallel in pairsacross said conductors on -opposite'sides of tlie,points of connectionof the secondary .ofthe transformer to the conductors, and said coilsarranged along the trackvvay in vinductive roximity to the coil carriedby the motor vehicle, signal controlling devices connected in shunt ofsaid coils, one of such devices on each side of the point -of connectionofthe terminals of thesecondaryto,saidy conductors, and signalscontrolled by said devices.

7. A system of block signaling, comprising ay source of propulsioncurrent, afeeder therefrom, a trackway of Which the rails arecontinuous, a motor vehicle on said trackway, a coil closed upon itself-carried by the vehicle, a source of signaling current, a number ofconductors energized by said source of signaling current, a series ofWayside coils connected in parallel across said conductors and saidcoils arranged along the trackvvay ininductive proximity to the coilcarried by the motor vehicle, signal conof said coils, and signalscontrolled by 'said devices.

8, In a block signaling system,-the combination of a source ofpropulsion current, a trackway of which the rails are continuous, almotor vehicle' on said traclnvay, a coil closed upon itself carried bythe vehicle,- a source of signaling 'arranged in groups and energizedfrom parcoils arranged along 'ductive proximity to motor vehicle,`signal controlling devices current, Wayside coils to said source ofsignaling 9. In a block signaling system, the coma trackWay of Which therails are continuous, a motor vehicle on said trackvvay, a coil closedupon itself carried by the vehicle, Wayside coils energized fromparallel connections to said source 'of signaling curi'ent, arrangedingroups along the track- Way to form block sections, and said coilsbination of a sourceof propulsion current,

located in inductive proximity to the path l traversed by the closedcoil on the motor vehicle, signal controlling devices connected inshunt.of said coils and normally energized by the,d'i`erence ofpotential excited between the terminals of the coils, whereby they Willbe respectively. denergized when the closed coil carried by the motorvehicle moves into proximity toa corresponding one of the Wayside coilsof the group, and signals controlled'by said devices. I

10. In a block signaling system, the combination of a trackWay, a motorvehicle on the trackvvay, ay coil carried by the vehicle, a source ofsignaling energy, transformers having their primary terminals connectedacross the sou-roe of signaling energy, a number of conductors'connected respectively to the terminals of the secondary of eachtransformer, Wayside c'oils connected in parallel across the conductorsand said the trackway in inthe coil carried by a connected in shunt Withthe coils and normally actuated by the difference of potential ofthesignaling of said coils, and signals controlled by said devices,whereby When said coils move into proximity to any one of said coils,the reactance of said Wayside coil is changed and thedili'erence ofpotential across its terminal is consequently changed and a signalcontrolling device affected.

l1. A system of block signaling, comprising a source of propulsioncurrent, feeders therefrom, a trackway having the rails continuous, amotor vehicle on said trackway, a coil closed upon itself carried"by thevehicle, a source of signaling current, a number of conductors connectedto the source of signaling current, a series of Wayside tial at theterminals of saidvvayside coils,

ics

current at the terminals but adapted to be denergized when the coil onthe motor vehicle moves in inductive proximity to one of thecorresponding coils, and signals controlled by said devices. l

12. A system of block signaling, comprising a coil closed upon itselfcarried -by a motor vehicle, a source of signaling current, a series ofWayside coils .connected in parallel across thesource of signalingcurrent and disposed in a position to be successively put into inductiverelation with the coil carried by the motor vehicle, signal controllingdevices normally energized by the difference y of. potential between theterminals of the ductive relation, and signals controlled by saiddevices.

In testimony whereof, I aiiix my signature, in the presence of twoWitnesses.

GEORGE HILLARD BENJAMIN. lVitnesses:

HELEN E. KoELsoH, CHARL'ES W. DUNN.

